President Trump has announced that he will be imposing a tariff on all films made outside the United States.

Posting on Truth Social in his characteristic style, Trump wrote that “our movie making business has been stolen from the United States of America, by other Countries, just like stealing “candy from a baby.” California, with its weak and incompetent Governor, has been particularly hard hit! Therefore, in order to solve this long time, never ending problem, I will be imposing a 100% Tariff on any and all movies that are made outside of the United States”.

This is not the first time that the President has made such an announcement. Earlier this year we commented here on a post in which he stated that the United States would impose a “100% Tariff on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands”. This naturally led to widespread concern in the film industry, and prompted the Culture Minister at the time to address Parliament and ally any concerns, saying that the Government was “already in active discussions with the top of the US administration on this subject” and that it was “working hard to establish what might be proposed, if anything, and to make sure our world beating creative industries are protected”.

This time around, the response has been more muted. As before, there are few details on what exactly is being proposed, and, whilst some in the industry have reiterated deep concerns about what this could mean should it be followed through, the hope is that it will prove again to be something of an empty threat.

We will of course continue to monitor for any developments in this area.